500 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



THE COALFISH (sw. grasejen). 

 GADUS VIRENS. 

 Plate XXIV, fig. 4. 



Lerifjtli of the base of the first anal fin more than half the distance between this fin and the tip of the snout. 

 Loicer jaw most prominent {though sometimes only slightly), its length being at least ahout 46 % of that of the 

 head, but less than 13 % of that of the body. Distance between the tip of the snout and the hind extremity of the 

 maxillary bones at most about 77 %, but at least about 72 %, of the length of the lower jatv, and greater than 

 the length of the ventral fins, which is less than twice the least depth of the fail, this depth being more flian 36 % 

 of the length of the loiver jaw, than 35 % of the base of the third dorsal fin or of the length of the pectoral fins, 

 but less than 80 {76?) % of the least breadth of the interorbital space. Distance between the first dorsal fin and 

 the tip of the snout at least about 30 % of the length of the body. Length of the snout more than 62 % of that 

 of the lower jaw, but less than 70 % of the postorbital length of the head. Length of the middle rays of the 

 caudal fin less than 6^i.^ % of the length of the body. Lateral line only slightly and gradually curved 



and of a liqlit colour. 



R. hr. 7; Z). 12— 14"! 10— 24ll9— 22; A. 23— 27 ''|20'-— 23; 

 P. 19—20''; V. G; C. ,r + 23— 28 + .c; Vevt. 54—55. 



S]in. Colfisch, Belon, Nat., Div. Poiss. (1555) p. 128. 



Asellus niger, Carbonarius (p. 19) et Asellus viresvens (p. 20), 

 SCHONEV., Jchth. Slesv. Hols. (1624). 



Gadus dorso tripterygio, ore imberbi, maxilla inferiore longiore 

 et linea laterali recta, Art., Gen., p. 20; Spi., p. 34. 



Gadus dorso tripterygio, ore imberbi, dorso virescente, Lin., 

 Fn. Suec, ed. I, p. Ill; Gron., Act Ups. 1742, p. 90. 



Gadus virens, Lin., Syst. Nat., ed. X, torn. I, p. 253 ; Asc, 

 Icon. Rer. Nat., cab. Ill, tab. XXIII; MiJLL., Zool. Dan. 

 Prodr., p. 42; Faber, Fische Isl., p. 99; Nilss., Prodr. 

 Iclitli. Scand., p. 43; Schagerstr., Physiogr. Siillsk. Tidskr., 

 p. 301; Nilss., Skand. Fn., Fisk., p. 559; Gthr, Vat. Brit. 

 Mvs., Fish., vol. IV, p. 339; Coll., Forh. Vid. Selsk. Cbrist. 

 1874, Till.Tgsb., p. Ill; ibid. 1879, No. 1, p. 66; N. Mag. 

 Naturv. Clirist., Bd. 29, p. 82; Malm (Pollachius), Gbgs, 

 Boh. Fn., p. 488; Winth. (Gadus), Naturb. Tidskr. Kbbvu, 

 ser. Ill, vol. XII, p. 31; Day, Fish. Gt. Brit., Irel., vol. I, 

 p. 293, tab. LXXXIV; Joed., Gilb., Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., 

 No. 16, p. 806; Mob., Hckk, Fisch. Osts., p. 79; Lillj., 

 &v., Norg. Fn., Fisk., vol. II, p. 83. 



Gadus carbonarius, Lin., iS)/si. Nat., ed. X, torn. I, p. 254; 

 MCll., 1. c, p. 43; Faber, 1. c, p. 96; Nilss., Prodr., 

 p. 44; Schaqerstr., 1. c. Dek. (Mcrlangus), N. York Fn., 

 part. IV, p. 287, lab. XLV, fig. 144; Kr., Damn. Fisk., 

 vol. II, p. 102; Ekstr., v. Wright, (Gadus), Skand. Fisk., 

 ed. I, p. 195, tab. 48; Thomps. (Merlangus), Nat. Hist. 

 Irel, vol. IV, p. 183; Mor., Hist. Nat. Poiss. Fr., torn. Ill, 

 p. 243 ; Br. Goode (Pollachius), Fisher.^ Fishery Indnstr. 

 U. &:, Sect. I, p. 228, tab. 60. 



Uoliu, Duham., Tr. Pe'ch., part. II, sect. I, p. 125, tab. XXI, 



fig. 1. 

 Gadus purpureus, Mitch., Trans. Lit., Pliil. Soc. N. York, 

 vol. I, p. 370; (?) Dek., 1. c, p. 286, tab. XLV, fig. 147; 

 Storer (Merlangus). Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts, Sc, n. ser., 

 vol. VI, p. 358, tab. XXVIII, fig. 3. 

 Gadus leptocephaltis, Dek., 1. c. p. 288, tab. XLV, fig. 14(>. 

 Obs. Even Fabee (1. c.) suspected that tbe Linna?an species 

 Gadus virens and G. carbonarius, distinguislied originally by Schone- 

 velde (1. c), were merely different stage.s of growtli of the same 

 species, the younger Green Cod (^virens) ligliter in colour than tbe 

 older Coalfish (carbouaritis). Fries, however, to the best of our know- 

 ledge, was the first (see the 1st Ed. of this work, p. 77) positively 

 to maintain the correctness of this opinion. Kroyer (1. c.) has since 

 given the fullest possible elucidation of this question. 



The Coalfish (Sw. Sej, or, as it is most frequently 

 called, Grdsej, to distinguish it from the next species,) 

 even in Scandinavia attains a length of more than a 

 metre'"; but the smaller specimens which are most com- 

 mon in the island-belt of Bohuslfln, are between 20 and 

 30 cm. long. 



The body is of a handsome form, tapering at both 

 ends, plump, somewhat compressed, and .so deep that 

 the greatest depth, which occurs at the end of the first 

 dorsal fin, is between ^/g and V4 of the total length of 

 the body. The thickness, measured at the same point, 

 is aljout half the depth. The least depth of the body, 

 just in front of the caudal fin, is on an average only 



" Sometimes 15, according to Kroyer. 



' ,, 29, ,, ,, LlLLJEBORG. 



' „ 18, ,, ,, Ekstr6m. 



'' ., 21, „ „ Keoyer. 



' The largest specimen Malm obtained on tlic coast of Bohuslan was ll'.^ dm. long. The largest specimen that Kroyer ever saw, 

 vas of tlie same length (44 Dan. inches). 



